Well, it IS a complicated story, they may not have given her all of it. Or as a mage she might be asking for technical details; good luck on getting THOSE from Alex. But more interesting and exciting, it is possible Niviene may be familiar with the rules of Dreamland secession and entry, she may know a way Dan CAN enter Dreamland, and be wondering why they’re not using it…

Not quite. Excalibur is the sword Niviene had forged by the Elves and Dwarves and gave to Arthur as a symbol. And now she’s given it to Dan. The Sword of Kings is the sentient blade that has been around since the creation of Dreamland and which Alex wears on his back.

See, there was this dragon that wanted to be king (it’s good to be the king, by the way) and so he cursed all firstborns (that could be kings) from entering dreamland, and so the Arthur Pendragon, which was captured magically, still was the king. But I am king material and because I am the young twin I got around the curse. And so now we can have kings again! Did I mention it’s good to be the king?

Really? I imagine Alex’s answer to have more “I don’t know”s in it. Not sure if Alex really likes to be king or even thought about the matter much.
More like: “Uh… I don’t know… It just happened. I put on the sword necklace one day and I was just here.. I don’t know… and Dan just, I don’t know, was never able to enter Dreamland, even as a child. Oh! And I think the sword and Nicodemus said something about Arthur being trapped so Dan couldn’t come or something like that. Right, Nastajia?”

Meanwhile, I’m curious as to what Dan is going to do with Excalibur. That thing’s not exactly inconspicuous. On top of that it would be an object of extreme covetousness in the human world if recognized, possibly even more so than in Arthur’s time. Be carefu, Dan, be prepared to say it’s a movie prop.

Why? Because it’s great to see someone who wasn’t destined for the job rise up and accept responsibility anyway. Because he needs Dreamland to help him grow up in the real world. Because it’ll be a nice break in tradition if a king of Dreamland never made the history books in the real world but he was a great man nonetheless. Because Nastajia needs him around so she won’t revert back to being an ice queen. That’s why.

Of course, on Earth there were the laws of succession, that determined who was rightfully king when a king died. And then there was the reality of politics and such: some heirs were not really qualified, being too young, or having a disability of some kind, some were simply not fast enough, and found their throne gone when they tried to take it, and so on.

Having the younger brother crowned could cause problems down the line (consider England’s War of the Roses), but it did happen sometimes.

Man, unfortunate angle in the third panel. Alex’s collar looks like a continuation of the sword’s hilt (difference in shading looks like the hilt is escaping shadow), putting it so far over his shoulder as to be awkward. But fourth panel shows it correctly behind him. It took me a minute to realize there wasn’t a problem (just my color-insensitive eyes + perfect alignment of edges).

That’s what has made me suspicious all along…we don’t know what Niviene was told by Nastajia (Alex having awakened before they could say much), but she seems to know a lot, and her questioning of Alex today gives me that creepy feeling again, like Nicodemus paid her a visit and gave her information he wanted her to have.

It just occurred to me today, while working (yes, I was thinking of the Dreamland Chronicles while I was driving a bus…), that because of Nicodemus, there has been one person per generation since Arthur, who never was able to dream AT ALL, and would not have the faintest idea why, or be capable of understanding what the other people around him would be talking about, whenever they talked about a dream they had…

Alex: Well, we were going with this whole dragon usurping the crown thing with some touches of magic and curses…
Niviene: But that’s not it?
Alex: Well… It’s part of it sure…
Niviene: Out with it, boy.
Alex: Well, the truth is, I have an elf fetish and Dan likes black girls…
Niviene: You… You chose the king of Dreamland position based on that?
Alex: Who are you to judge me? Woman-who-based-her-entire-everything-on-a-random-beardy-guy?
Niviene: Touché…
Alex: Oh, can I ask you a question now?
Niviene: *sigh* Yes.
Alex: What products do you use?
Niviene: What?
Alex: You’re like a billion, but you look not a day over thirty.
Niviene: I’ll take that as a compliment and not turn off the anti-sea monster spell.
Alex: But seriously, my mom would love to have whatever you’re using.
Niviene: It’s a spell based on the drippings of the Path’kar’thom.
Alex: Okay then! My mom will just enjoy aging gracefully! *cringe*

I actually find it a relief that Niviene informs Alex of how she feels. Her conversation with Daniel last week left me with a feeling that she was being hypocritical to Alex.

That being said, I agree with some of the other comments: how did she know Daniel was the true King and not why Alex was the one currently occupying the post? I’m having a hard time picturing a conversation with Nastajia or Alex where they would tell her Daniel was the true King and not a glimmer of an explanation for Alex being there in his stead.

Which leaves me wondering, where did she get her information if not from Alex and Nastajia? And she also seems to have a very strong preference for Daniel despite having spent very limited time with either. Where’s that coming from? Maybe she’s just strongly opposed to less than intellectually superior rulers. And if that’s the case, how did she feel about Nicodemus?

Or maybe she’s just a really big proponent of the whole “rightful heir” thing. 🙂 If that’s true, then she would have definitely been anti-Nic…which I would expect to be the case since she would know that Nic was against other humans entering Dreamland due to her interactions with Merlin…and she was the one who put Merlin in his tree (which I’d assume was after the attack that “killed” Arthur).

It is a little odd for her to know that Dan is the rightful ruler without knowing how Alex came to be there instead though…unless she just knows by virtue of her magic or something…I got nuthin’!

Something is fishy here. I guess only time will tail what she is swimming at here…..*crickets*

Seriously I think she sees the the maturity in Daniel and knowing that he is the true king means that she has that much more respect for him. Also she has the pool to see things. She probably has the ability to see who the true heir is but does not know all the history behind what happened to Arthur because of how Nic interfered. Just my 2 cents though

A watery tart in a pond throwing swords is the foundation of good government. At least according to one version of Arthurian legend. If you assume that someone had to identify the correct target for the sword then the foundation of good government would be something else. In this case commentary from deep sea divers. I suppose both could be called a “farcical aquatic ceremony”.

I think it is reasonable to assume that either Niviene or Excalibur know who the right king without asking Natasha or any bi-weekly meeting.

Not so good news, i hope you find some other ways to get money. Otherwise you can add a donation button on this site, then i will pay a small part.
I love this webcomic, and i dont want that the workstation breaks before you have get a new one.

My thought this morning was, “Hm, no new page. I really hope there’s nothing wrong with Scott’s computers. I’ll check the comments.” 🙁 Sometimes it’s not fun being right. And I’m sorry to hear about the contract falling through! I hope it all works out!